In the near future, environmental regulations will require that vehicles avoid venting air from engine crankcases to the atmosphere because the air from engines may contain oil, fuel and water vapors. An option is to route the air from the engine to a turbocharger, for vehicles equipped with a turbocharger. Turbochargers perform best when supplied with substantially clean, dry air, so the air vented from the engine needs to be filtered before being supplied to the turbocharger.
Current engine crankcase vent line air filters can become clogged with moisture, vapors and contaminates or pass moisture, vapors and contaminates to turbocharger components thereby degrading performance of the turbocharger. The inventors herein have recognized that providing a filter for filtering the air from the engine wherein the filter is configured so moisture, vapors and contaminates are first separated from the air and a remaining portion of the air is then filtered by the filter before the remaining portion of the air is supplied to the turbocharger will aid in maintaining optimal turbocharger performance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a filter for filtering a fluid wherein a first portion of the fluid having moisture, vapors and contaminants is separated from a second portion of the fluid and the second portion of the fluid then flows through a portion of the filter thereby further filtering the fluid.